Loveless Academic Magnet Program likely will be moving to the old Montgomery Mall.

Montgomery Public Schools officials sent a letter home with LAMP students on Wednesday to inform parents that recent inspections have uncovered severe problems with the current building on West Jeff Davis Avenue that will force students and faculty out of the school by Thanksgiving. The letter stated that classes temporarily will be held in the former Houston Hill school building until a new, permanent LAMP facility is ready to open.

Wednesday evening, MPS board member Melissa Snowden and Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange told the Montgomery Advertiser that the only feasible option for a new location for LAMP is at the former Parisian location inside the old Montgomery Mall.

"Given our funds and the way things are now, there's really no other option for us," Snowden said. "We've visited a number of potential sites and looked at several options, but this is just the most realistic. With the city and county putting in money for this move, it's the only thing we can realistically do."

Snowden said the board hasn't voted on the move, but that she expects that to come soon.

Strange said he and Montgomery County officials have met with MPS leaders and reached an understanding: If LAMP moves to the mall location, the city and county would split payments on a $21 million bond issue to make it happen.

Strange said the new bond payments would replace another payment that's ending this year and likely would add to the city's bottom line only slightly. He said he's run the idea past the City Council members, and it has been received favorably.

"Basically, that $600,000 that we were paying will now go to service this new debt," Strange said. "It will leave us roughly in the same range where we were before."

The LAMP move to the mall is part of a larger plan for the abandoned facility that many Montgomery residents felt was destined to become a city eyesore.

Over the past several years, Strange pushed a plan that saw a new police precinct and fire station go into the renovated mall, and plans developed for LAMP and the Montgomery Technical Education Center to also take up locations.

Former MPS superintendent Barbara Thompson backed that idea and pushed the board into the purchase of the old J.C. Penney store and also into an agreement to buy the Parisian location for LAMP.

However, the cost of the moves pushed the limits of the MPS budget, and when Thompson was forced out following a grade-change scandal, new superintendent Margaret Allen put the brakes on the project until the proper funding could be identified. Also at play was the fact many LAMP parents and supporters wanted the school to have its own stand-alone facility.

The current building's issues, though, have forced a decision quicker than the 2016 deadline originally set. And with the city and county picking up a sizable chunk of the costs, moving to the mall is the only viable option.

However, Strange said that the plans he's seen will leave LAMP with its own building, ball fields and gym, and that while some access into the location might be shared, LAMP will have its own entryway.

MPS also plans to move ahead with the MTEC move, albeit with an expanded program that features more options and partnerships with local colleges and businesses.

"We would be stupid not to move ahead with the tech program," Snowden said. "That expanded program offers students so many more options. With Trenholm right there, we have the opportunity to share space and resources and make sure our students are career ready or college ready when they walk out of the door."

Snowden said the LAMP move to Houston Hill will occur over the Thanksgiving holiday break, if not before.

"This wasn't the plan, but it's the best option we have," Snowden said. "I think in the long run, with (Allen) working closely with the folks at LAMP, this will be something that's good for everyone."